Viscosity in strongly interacting quantum field theories from black hole physics.

Journal article

The ratio of shear viscosity to volume density of entropy can be used to characterize how close a given fluid is to being perfect. Using string theory methods, we show that this ratio is equal to a universal value of variant Planck's over 2pi/4pik(B) for a large class of strongly interacting quantum field theories whose dual description involves black holes in anti-de Sitter space. We provide evidence that this value may serve as a lower bound for a wide class of systems, thus suggesting that black hole horizons are dual to the most ideal fluids.

Authors: Kovtun, P; Son, D; Starinets, A

• Journal: Physical Review Letters
• Volume: 94
• Issue: 11
• Pages: 111601
• Publication date: 2005-03-01
• DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.94.111601
• EISSN: 1079-7114
• ISSN: 0031-9007
• Language: English